CS Naval Carriage

[CarlS]

Here is a closeup of the bottom.  It's quite stylish for such a utilitarian device. The bottom of the elevating screw either sits in the elongated hole or goes through the carriage wood; it's not clear.

[Selma Brooke Gunner]

   Looking at the photo it looks like it goes into the carriage instead of just sitting on it. I looked the larger picture over hoping to see a pin that goes thru the carriage to anchor the elevation screw but i dont see one. So, I am really not sure about this, LOL something new to research; I love it.

[Dave the plumber]

I understand that the whell is for turning the screw, but what I was asking is;  with the weight of the barrel and the tension created on the wheel resting on a bearing surface, and such a small diameter wheel that would be hard to get your hands around, and no flats or protusions for gripping , and such a course thread where each minute turn would effect the movement and the weight , and the grooves pictured in the brass wheel,  and such and such and such -  I just can't understand why they did not use either a tool to turn it and get leverage to make it so much easier, or have a winged wheel like on your standard land gun carriage............   that's all I was asking !!

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

lDave,
    without a bar at the top of the threaded stock to turn it , there must be some type of a two pin spanner to furn such a small wheel.
John

[Selma Brooke Gunner]

Dave,
    I am not really 100% sure how they turned it. I have used a simular sit up on a boat howitzer field carriage and you would be amazed at how easy it is to set elevation, granted that is only a 750lb tube.
    The tube in question is probably about 6500lbs or better so in the light of that I would tend to agree with John in that they may have used a spanner type of device to set the elevation. Note the holes on the inside of the wheel and that would seem feasible.

[Dave the plumber]

that's what I have been saying all along.........  I was hoping someone would know for sure.

[CarlS]

Being only a 10-lber and back when men were men I don't think they'd have any problem turning it by hand.  That was time when there wasn't any carpal tunnel issue from too much time blogging on forums!   

[callicles]

Any of you boys ever heard of a "cheater pipe?" Any farm boys here? I used one today out at the farm.  I suspect that's what they used -- not that complicated.  But then again, I ain't a smart guy!

[Selma Brooke Gunner]

unless you have a spanner wrench there is nothing to hang the cheater pipe on.

[6lbgun]

     With my background (millwright) the wheel looks like a pulley for two ropes being turned by hand or some other external source.  The holes in the wheel are for weight reduction.  This seem like a very elaborate way of adjusting a tube with a weight of only 890lbs.  When you take into consideration all the facts, 890lbs (on a pivot), adjusting screw with a large pitch (less rotation for a lot of movement), square threads (no radial pressure, easier turning, minimal wear on the cascabel threads), I feel that turning the wheel by hand would not have been that difficult.  A little lubrication would have helped.  Having a larger wheel with handles (built in cheater bar) would have been faster and easier.
Dan

Did anyone notice the second compressor at the front of the recoil slide?

[Selma Hunter]

All -

I tend to agree with 6lbgun that the preponderance of the gun would not have been so great as to make the operation of the elevating screw/wheel that difficult. 

The first 7" Brooke Gun tube that Brooke shipped to Jones for use on the CSS Virginia weighed about 14,000 pounds and had a preponderance only 300 pounds, or 2.07% of the total tube weight [less charge, projectile, lock, sights, etc. - WEL note] (from an unpublished article by "Selma Brooke Gunner" excerpted from George M. Brooke, Jr.'s book of John M. Brooke's letters - "Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy", University of South Carolina Press, 2002).  All you really wanted to do was keep the breech of the gun "seated" on the screw rest so that it wouldn't bounce around and send hot projectiles off into places not intended.  In this case if we assume a similar ratio of tube weight to preponderance (always a dangerous thing - the making of assumptions!) with a crudely assumed [again, by WEL] tube weight of 600 lbs then the weight on the screw rest would only be about 12 (and a fraction) pounds.  Employing the "inclined plane" of the screw this would reduce the perceived load to a pittance at anything near this low number.  IMHO & FWIW.

Also, did anyone else note the significant split in the carriage timber (base) aft of the elevating screw?  Must'a been a heck of a load to open a crack up like that!

[6lbgun]

     I noticed the split in the wood.  The arraignment of the block and tackle on the sides of the gun may have something to do with that.  Looks like the eyelet on the rear of the slide is part of a piece of sheet iron covering the side.  Using the block and tackle to return the gun into battery or to help in recoil control would not only pull the slide forward but would also exert force to the sides stressing the weak part of the wood where the hole for the screw is.  The sheet iron plate would prevent this some what, but it still cracked.
Dan